


Let her be (Zhao/Reader)

by Manzare



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-19 21:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3625254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manzare/pseuds/Manzare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Fire Nation army took you hostage after the Avatar passed through your home village in the Earth Kingdom. You weren't telling a word about the Avatar to the Fire Nation army and they were getting impatient.<br/>Commander Zhao desperately  needs crucial information about the Avatar and comes to interrogate you himself.<br/>(Takes place in the first season of ATLA)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dimwit

**Author's Note:**

> I was on the internet the other day and learned that not many people have written Zhao/Reader fanfictions, if at all. So I thought I could give it a shot. I have no idea how long this fanfiction is going to be, hopefully long enough.  
> Oh, there might be some mistakes here and there since English is not my first language (If there's any Finnish readers let me know because voin kirjoittaa suomeksi jotain teille kullanmuruille!). Other than that, I am very familiar with ATLA and TLOK so the characters shouldn't be too OOC.  
> As you can probably guess, I do not own any of the characters that appear in this story.  
> Without further ado, let's begin.

"Where is she?", commander Zhao asked his assistant while walking down the gloomy halls of his office building. The assistant had a hard time keeping up with Zhao, clumsy feet almost failing him. "Sir, I-I'm afraid that this... girl.. is a l-little hard to crack" he swallowed "Even f-for you"  
Zhao's face flinched at the comment, but he kept on walking. He wasn't really sure where he was going since the assistant was sure taking his time answering his question.  
Of course a man like Zhao was not taking any of it because of the busy schedule he had. 

He was just informed that a girl had been seen providing a place to stay for the Avatar and his gang. This was not a rare occurrence. Most of the people they had interrogated this far were easy to get information from. For this very reason they were keeping up with a rival. Prince Zuko was also hunting for the Avatar and it was not an option to let him. All the information they could get was now very much needed.

This is the part where you come in. Zhao was very close to capturing the Avatar, but he lost the lead once again. Then he hears about a young woman who they had captured instead. Zhao being the impatient and straightforward kind of guy, he had no idea why this was important. The thing is, no one could get you to spill one word out. They had made you starve for a few days, threatened you with firebending, and, *sigh*, they had even tickled you. You had yelled at them, you had scratched them and even tried to earthbend at them. You were a fiery one, sure, but there was evidence and eyewitnesses against you. That was enough to make them hold you hostage. 

Zhao couldn't believe that his men couldn't break you. Of course he had tons of things to do but he had to see this person, a WOMAN, an earthbender, who was not giving in.

"I asked you a question", Zhao said angrily and looked at the man.  
The assistant jumped at the sudden change of his tone and shivered. "S-she is held on the bottom floor, sir", he said eyeing Zhao carefully.  
"Thank you", he answered dryly whilst heading to the stairs.  
Zhao waved his hand shortly as a sign for him to leave his side. The assistant bowed with the firenation position on his hands.

Zhao walked down the stairs and made his way to yet another hallway. He walked pass a few doors until he heard screaming coming from a door. He pressed his ear against the door. "Get away from me!", screamed a woman's voice which he assumed to be the person's he was looking for. He opened the door to find a beautiful woman tied to a chair, and one of his men just about to hit her face. 

The room was quite bright due to the amount of torches on the wall. This made Zhao squint his eyes for a moment before he adjusted to the light.  
The room itself was not really furnished to look like a suite- there was only a few chairs here and there, no windows and of course the woman and Zhao's employee.  
Zhao came inside and left the door open.

The man stopped himself from hitting the woman after hearing someone come in the room.  
The man bowed just like the assistant had a few moments ago and started speaking. "Good evening, sir!", the man said with a smile on his face. "It's easing to know that you have finally arrived", he continued "I was just- uhm... threatening her to get her to speak" 

"Oh you were?", the woman spoke sounding offended "You were totally about to hit me in the face you DIMWIT!"

Yup, this was definitely you.


	2. I beg your pardon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your conversation with Zhao is going nowhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I don't know how good this is going to be so I'm sorry if it sucks~~  
> I hope that it's alright that I don't want to take forever until something actually starts happening so in the next chapter things are probably going to start to escalate more quickly

Zhao looked almost amused at the comment you had made. The man did not look amused at all and was clearly ready to try to hit you again.  
Zhao noticed this and his almost invisible smile faded. "Don't ever hit a woman", Zhao said strictly.  
Both you and the guy about to hit you looked at Zhao surprised. 

"But sir, we need the information she has and-" he was cut off by Zhao. "Have I made myself clear?"  
The man nodded looking a little confused.

"And now, if you'll excuse us, I wish to speak to this woman alone", the commander asked knowing the answer.  
"Yes, yes, of course!", the man said bowing again.  
He left the room closing the door loudly. There was a short silence and Zhao quickly broke it. "I am commander Zhao, as you may or may not know", he said and tried to look a little bigger than he was "and I am going to assume that you know why you're here"

"I have no idea what you're talking about", you said blandly and tried your best not to look at him. He chuckled darkly.  
"You are not the fist, nor the last to try and tell me that", he said looking at you amused. 

He seemed so arrogant to you, you just wanted to punch his stomach and run. Even though you were quite impressed by the fact that he actually stood up for you. Of course you hated to be this helpless, you had survived for a long time by yourself. 

You rolled your eyes at him. Zhao got himself a chair from nearby and placed it before you. He wanted to try to reason with you first. "From what I've heard you are quite a nut to crack", he said mischievously while sitting down. You immediately saw that he was trying to be nice and you cut him off. "Uhm.. hey, look- I don't want to have anything to do with you or your buddy back there", you said with a serious tone. Zhao listened.  
"If you think for a moment that I'll tell you something, you are utterly mistaken", you told him. He looked at you for a moment. 

"What's your name?", he asked out of nowhere. You weren't waiting for him to ask that, at least not now.  
"My name is (Y/N)", you answered after a few seconds.  
"(Y/N), huh? Just the name for you", he said. Was his tone a little mocking? You weren't quite sure.  
"Alright", he was back to his casual tone "Listen, I've dealt with a lot of people, benders and non-benders alike"  
"You are not going to be any exception", he told you. 

"Same here", you answered him grinning. He looked at you for a little while. It looked like he was trying to read you. Your plan was to infuriate this man, with brutal honesty. It's not like he could really hurt you. He was going to leave this room mad as ever, just like many other men already had. 

"Why were you hiding the Avatar in your house?", Zhao asked a little impatiently, and placed his elbows on his knees. "Woah there, I'd like to take it slow", you chuckled lightly. Even though Zhao frowned.  
He looked a little threatening to you but you weren't going to give up now. You weren't the person to betray your friends. Even though you didn't consider Aang, the young Avatar to exactly be your friend since he had stayed at your house with his friends only for a few days. Well, it didn't matter. He was a good boy, he was to bring justice. You knew he would. If helping him meant that you had to go through all this, so be it.

"Why are you protecting him?", he asked you angrily. You considered the question outrageously stupid. "Of course I'm protecting him! From monstrous firebenders like you!", you yelled at him. He flinched at that. Suddenly he stood up and grabbed your chair by the back. "I beg your pardon?", he asked eerily. You were shocked for a moment. "You heard me", you said looking into his eyes. He let go. He faced away for a few moments.  
"You are unbelievable", he said with disgust. "Well sorry for the letdown", you said annoyingly. 

"I could burn you alive right here, right now!'', he yelled. You jumped. 'Well doesn't he seem a little erratic', you thought. "If you were really to do that, you would've done it already", you chuckled once again "You need me too much to let me go to waste"

Zhao was kind of impressed by the fact that you were so fierce. "(Y/N)", he said your name.  
You looked up at him. "What do you want?", you asked him. "Don't speak to me like that", he warned you.  
You sighed and asked again "What is it, Commander Zhao?" 

"I wish to make a deal"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup---  
> Cliffhanger much? ^^  
> This fanfiction is probably going to be quite different from what I first imagined it  
> gahh well


	3. You'll have to bear with it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhao and you both have different things in mind when it comes to your deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehm... well here it is.  
> I'm sorry if 'your' or Zhao's behavior brings you down somehow.  
> The character might not be anything like you, I am terribly sorry if that's the case.  
> I might write another ATLA fanfiction with the reader involved (at least one that has Fire Lord Ozai paired with the reader (the reader is going to be shy)) after I finish this one.  
> Enjoy!~~

"Okay, okay, so let me clarify this, you want me to tell where the Avatar is heading, and in return I'll have the 'honor' to accompany you on your quest to get him into custody?", you asked him with a baffled face. He nodded.  
You couldn't fight the grin from forming on your face.  
"You are joking right?", you asked him mockingly. Zhao was completely serious, you could see that. He looked at you with hopeful eyes, even when he was clearly trying to hide it.  
"Why would I agree on something like that?", you stared at him with an amused look. 

"Why wouldn't you?", he asked with a low voice. He looked at you for a moment and sat back down. "(Y/N), I do not have the patience nor the time to argue with you"

"Oh, what a shame", you said. "I'm sure your men do"  
You wanted to leave this room so bad, yet here you were making your time here longer. You had mixed feelings towards him. At first he had been like any other firebender-jerk. Something about him changed your mind. Maybe it was his sideburns. Yup, definitely his sideburns. 

Zhao was losing his patience once again. 'don't ever hit a woman my ass' he thought to himself. What he said was true, but he was used to using violence to solve problems.  
Something kept him from hitting you though. Maybe he just didn't want to? He thought of that for a second. 'Am I really losing my grip?' he thought. 

Come to think of it, it was quite funny how both of you thought the same about each other. 'You are a jerk and I want to get this over with'.

"You are wasting my precious time", he mumbled to himself. 

You tilted your head. An idea struck you. 

"Let's pretend I agreed with you", you said after a short silence. He looked at you with hope fulfilling his eyes once again.  
"Are you going to let me go after we find the Avatar?", you asked him.

"I-", he started. 'This woman has been a tricky little thing right from the start- I don't think she should be freed', he thought. 'It's best to tell her what she wants to hear and get this over with'. "I believe, madam, that after we find the Avatar, your part of the deal is fulfilled", he said sternly "which means you should be able to leave"

You were surprised by the answer. You weren't sure if he was trustworthy or not. That way or the other, if you were as good as you thought yourself to be, you should be able to run away easily.

"What if I disagree?", you asked. You already decided that you were going to 'agree', but you wanted to hear the alternative first. He looked at you with an unpleasant look. 

"Then I'd have to find another way for you to cope with me", he said with a smug face.

You were a little stunned at the usage of the word 'me' instead of 'us'. 'Maybe this is kinda personal to him', you thought.  
Then you realized what he was implying with 'cope with me'.

You shivered in disgust. "Alright", you said. "I agree"  
He grinned. You didn't really want to be alone or with his employees the time you were on that little trip to find the Avatar."I have one condition though", you tried to hide your smile. He turned to look at you. "And what would that be?", he asked with curiosity. "I get to be in your presence the whole time", you told him. He was a little confused at your odd condition, but it really didn't matter anymore. He had won.

"Fair enough", he said.  
You nodded. "It's a deal then"

He clasped his hands together and stood up. "Excellent!"  
You rolled your eyes and smiled. 

"We shall leave immediately", he said. "What?", you gasped as he picked the chair up that had you tied on it.

You were expecting him to leave and get one of his men to untie you, which would ultimately lead to your escape, but oh no, Zhao had other plans. 

He was now carrying you out of the room, and boy was it an odd sight. You were on his shoulder not facing him, and you felt uncomfortable because of the chair that was latched on to you. 

A few of Zhao's employees turned their heads to look at you two. He was walking towards the hallway that lead to the front door. Everyone in the building that saw you offered him help, but he of course refused. 

"This is really uncomfortable, you know", you mumbled.  
He laughed and continued to walk towards the door. "You'll have to bear with it"

'Why did I tell him that I wanted to be in his presence the whole time!? It's just going to make things harder!', you thought to yourself. Then an idea struck you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Tell me if you want the chapters to be longer. I tried to make this one a little longer, but I don't know if I succeeded-  
> Thank you for reading.  
> I'm starting to write the next chapter right away.


	4. Thank you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You arrived to Zhao's ship.

"This is where we are going to be sleeping", said Zhao boredom clear on his face. The two of you had arrived to Zhao's ship by midnight. He had naturally ordered his crew to come over as well, and start the ship.  
You had finally been untied from the chair, but there of course was a rope tied to your hands. Zhao made sure to hold it tight.

You were guessing that he had spent too much time in this room by the way he said what he had said.  
He looked at you for a moment and tenderly pulled you in the room with him.

The room wasn't that bad. There was a reddish brown couch in the middle and a bed with sheets the same color. In the corner there was a desk and a chair. The room itself was quite big. At least bigger than you were used to.  
Zhao saw you looking around and smirked. "Do you like it?", he asked. You looked at him. "Definitely more than that room I was kept before"  
He grinned and you smiled a little.

You looked away as if you were still observing the room.  
"I told one of my men to come here and take notes", he said. You looked at him. "Hmm?"

"You need to tell him the location where the Avatar is heading", he clarified. "Oh... right", you said gloomily.

"I still don't get why you're so upset", he said. "Not that I care", he added before you could say a word. 

'Oh, now I remember why I didn't like these people', you thought and frowned looking away from him. Suddenly a guy in the fire nation armor came to the door.  
You looked at Zhao and he nodded. 

The next ten minutes was Zhao explaining what would happen if you'd lie to them about the location and you telling it to them. 

After the guy had finally left another came in, bringing you food. Zhao allowed you to take the plate in your hands. It was rice and some bread.  
You sat down on the couch.

"When was the last time you ate?", Zhao asked and sat in the chair. You didn't even look at him this time. "Three days ago", you answered him. He looked at you a little shocked, but you didn't notice.  
"I'm glad you weren't violent because I was really hungry, I wouldn't have had any chance against you", you admitted. Now he looked at you even more shocked. 

"Thank you", you said.

You ate. 

The ship started moving, and you sighed because you felt a little bad. A tear fell on your cheek, but you silently wiped it away without Zhao noticing. 

"Don't you need to go command the ship?", you asked quietly. "Eh? Oh, no", he answered "I have taken care of that"

Finally you looked at him and saw him reading a book. "Someone else is co-" you started but he interrupted you "yes"

"I don't need you running away", he said piercing you with his gaze. You shivered. 'Shit', you thought. He continued reading. You were guessing that there were guards behind the door as well. 

'I'm going to need a new plan', you thought. "Is there any possible way that I could get you to remove these ropes?", you asked and lifted your hands.  
He looked at you with an 'are-you-kidding-me' -face. "And why would I do that, dear?", he asked mockingly. The nickname annoyed you immediately. "Because they make my wrists itchy", you said with a pleading voice. 

"Are you going to shut up if I remove them?", he asked out of aggravation. You nodded. Zhao rolled his eyes and closed the book placing it on the desk. Then he walked over to you and sat on the sofa. "Don't try to do anything stupid", he demanded. "Yeah, yeah", you answered lazily not even looking at him. "(Y/N)", he said loudly. This made you look at him. He looked like he was waiting for something. "Alright, Commander Zhao, I won't", you said.

Finally he removed the ropes slowly. After that he told you to stay on the sofa and went to the door and spoke with the guards before coming back in. 

He went back to his chair. "I'm guessing I'm sleeping on the sofa", you said. "Yes", Zhao said. He felt a little bad because you were kinda in a bad shape. It was his pride that kept him from letting you sleep in the bed. "Okay", you said and put your head on the sofa ready to sleep. 

"Wait", he said. "Sleep in the bed with me"

You looked flustered. "I'll know if you're trying to sneak away", he explained. "Oh", you said.

You stood up and went to sit on the bed. "Is it alright if I go to sleep?", you asked. "Yeah", he said. 

"Thank you", you said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this was really short, sorry.


	5. Reverse Psychology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You put your plans into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like decade since I last updated! Sorry! Hopefully Someone likes to read this! *v*
> 
> WARNING! MILD SEXUAL CONTENT AHEAD!

You opened your eyes. The room was darker than before. You rubbed your eyes before looking around. On the left side of the bed there was a chair where you had put the extra layer of your tunic before getting under the covers earlier. You turned to look beside you, but Zhao was still not there.  
There was a dim light coming from the desk that was on the right side of the bed. This time he wasn't reading, he was writing. You were guessing a report of some sorts. He had a white top and red baggy trousers on. You sat up. you cleared your throat to inform him you're awake.

He looked at you for a brief second behind his shoulder before continuing his writing. "You should go back to sleep", he said a little too softly. It was probably because he was tired. "How long have I been sleepin'?", you asked him ignoring his last sentence.  
"A few hours", he said. You thought for a moment. Now was the perfect time to live out your little plan that you had been working on. Seduction.

"Uhm.. i-if you're not sleeping here because I'm in your bed-"  
"No, no I just don't sleep much", he cut you off with a stern voice. "I really need to catch the avatar. I'm not going to rest until I see him behind bars"  
'Wow' you thought. 'This really seems important to him for some reason'

"You're too fixated on the avatar", you mumbled but ''unfortunately'' he heard you. "What was that?", he asked eerily turning to look at you. Your eyes widened a bit at his annoyed expression. You were silent for a moment.

"I mean, you know, you're kinda missing out on some things in life", you said and saw his expression soften. You were relieved to see that your "save" worked. "Maybe you should get a girlfriend or something", you laughed. He frowned once again. Your laugh stopped there. He stood up and started walking towards you. "Hey I wasn't serious, chill", you squeaked and put your hands in front of your face to protect it.

He sat on the bed.

"Why aren't you fighting back?", Zhao asked taking you off guard. "What?", you asked. Zhao rubbed his eyes "From what I've heard, you're annoying, hard to crack, fierce-"  
He had your attention now. "But after a few hours, you're actually quite genuine", he finished. 

You didn't really know what to say, you were trying to make him like you after all. 'I guess I gave up' and 'thank you' were the first options that came to mind, but you didn't want to say either of them. "Wow you're tired", you blurted out instead. He stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at you sternly. He tackled you on the bed, holding your hands on the sides of your head. You were a little shocked by his sudden action as he spoke; "I guess I spoke too soon"  
He grinned while you tried to squirm away from his grip. "H-hey, let go of-", you whined, but he cut you off with a kiss on the lips. The kiss lasted a few seconds until he pulled away.  
You just laid there in shock, until you pulled yourself up in a sitting position. Zhao went under the covers on the other side of the bed and made the light die down. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep", he said, as if nothing had happened. Did the plan work? If not, what was that?

\---

You didn't sleep at all after that. You were pretty much planning out conversations and answers to questions he might ask you. 'I wonder if it's too much if I try to bump into him so that he can feel my body parts', you thought to yourself. You almost laughed at some of the things you were going to do. It was going to take a few days to get to the Avatar, so you had plenty of time try different things. The kiss was a surprise to you, though. It was something HE did, not you.  
You were having a hard time understanding what all of that meant. 'It seems like he responds to teasing very well', you figured. 'He clearly doesn't have a girlfriend, so that's probably a sensitive topic'

Soon came the time when one of the guards knocked on the door, and came in. You pretended to be asleep when he stepped in front of the bed. The guard's eyes widened when he saw you in the bed with Zhao.  
"C-commander! We have new information about Prince Zuko, sir!", he said in a loud tone. Zhao rose from his sleeping position and you did as well. Zhao grabbed you and made you lean on him. You shot him a confused glare. 

"We'll be there in a minute, we're not ready yet", he said in a sleepy, yet stern voice. The guard looked at him, then you. His face was flustered and all he did was nod and then he took off. You looked at him. He had done that on purpose. "Wasn't this Avatar thing the most important thing to you? Why would you send him off like that?", you said with a pink face.

"It is... I'm just really tired and I didn't feel like explaining to him why you're in the same bed with me", he said sleepily and put his head back to the pillow. "Maybe you should've gone to bed sooner then, mm?", you said mockingly. "And why am I in the same bed with you? Did you feel bad for me or did you just want me so bad-" you were again cut off when he pulled you on top of him. "Hey, what-", you were trying to ask when he pulled you to a kiss. 'Really? What's up with this guy', you thought. This time the kiss lasted longer and you were panting when he let go. 

'I know just what to do', you thought. "I'm supposed to be your prisoner...", you said bringing your hands to your chest so that you looked uncertain. "Well let's see just how imprisoned you are", he said seductively and switched the position so that you were now under him. He kissed you again, this time trying to get his tongue in your mouth. While you playfully denied his request you held your hands to his chest as if you were trying to push him off. 

"You can't..." you said between the kisses. 'Reverse psychology should work. If he knows he shouldn't, he will', you thought to yourself sure that your plan should work. "I can, trust me", he said and pulled you back into the kiss. You lowered your hand to his crotch, and stroked it lightly. He groaned and you had a chance to get on top of him again, and you did. You stoked his member faster, and he held your hips. When you felt him tense, you pulled your hand away and hopped off of him. He was panting but you left him hanging, really bad. On purpose of course.

"Okay big boy, we should get going", you said as you put on your clothes.

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty! I left it a little short, there is going to be a second (probably even a third) chapter. Now that the back story is out of the way, I can write the smutty part! I'm kidding, I don't think there is going to be any smut. I'm not going to rule anything out yet though!  
> Well anyway, in my opinion this story started a little dryly. Don't worry though, the actual story starts in the next chapter where you get to meet Zhao properly.  
> I'm sorry if you did not want to be an earthbender. I just thought that your character is quite feisty and strong so earthbenders were the first to come to mind.  
> See you in the next chapter, and remember to tell me what you thought! ~~


End file.
